Tax cuts extended, but E-minis sell the news

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJI) had a loss of 3.03 points, or 0.03%, and closed at 11,359.16 on Tuesday. Despite the loss, just over half of the Dow's thirty index components posted a gain for the day. The top performers were General Electric (GE) (+1.98%), Chevron Corp. (CVX) (+1.59%), Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) (+1.29%), and Kraft Foods (KFT) (+1.16%). The weakest performers were 3M (MMM) (-3.10%), JP Morgan Chase (JPM) (-1.65%), and Hewlett Packard (HPQ) (-1.54%).

The Nasdaq Composite ($COMPX) ended the session higher by 3.57 points, or 0.14%, on Tuesday and it closed at 2,599.49. The top performers in the Nasdaq-100 included Yahoo (YHOO) (+3.74%), Nvidia (NVDA) (+3.24%), and JB Hunt Trans. Svcs. (JBHT) (+3.12%). The weakest were Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) (-3.53%), Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) (-3.00%), and DirecTV (DTV) (+2.31%).

Nasdaq Composite (Figure 3)

In addition to the action in the indices, gold also had a difficult session. In yesterday's column I wrote about a Momentum Reversal pattern that was forming on the daily and weekly time frames. This reversal pattern (a short) triggered early in Tuesday's session and gold solf off steadily throughout the session. This has larger daily implications and gold favors a correction into the end of the year. Gold futures for February delivery fell $7.10 an ounce and settled at $1,409 an ounce. The intraday high in the morning was $1,432.50.

SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) (Figure 4)

Unless otherwise stated, the index action described in this article relates to the E-mini futures contracts for the respective indices. Actual index action may differ slightly in terms of pattern formation, although the market bias will remain the same.

Toni Hansen is president and co-founder of the Bastiat Group Inc., DBA Trading From Main Street. Toni is one of the most respected technical analysts and traders in the industry. She has been trading and educating new traders, money managers, professional market analysts and traders throughout the boom and bust of the last decade. She has worked in conjunction with some of the world's top financial exchanges. Learn more about Toni Hansen and the educational services she provides through her website at http://www.tonihansen.com.

About the Author

Toni Hansen is president and co-founder of the Bastiat Group, Inc., DBA Trading From Main Street. Toni is one of the most respected technical analysts and traders in the industry. She has been trading and educating new traders, money managers, professional market analysts and traders throughout the boom and bust of the last decade. She has worked in conjunction with some of the world's top financial exchanges. Learn more about Toni Hansen and the educational services she provides through her website at http://www.tonihansen.com.